Sunday, 5 September 2010

The end of the ‘summer’ has definitely been in the air recently, colder mornings and the wind is starting to have a coolness about it. This morning it was dark when I got up, another sign that autumn is approaching. However, from a photographic point of view, you don’t have to get up really early to catch the ‘golden hour’, the colours in the trees is very photogenic and the wildlife seems more active as they get ready for the coming winter, and the weather can still be mild.

Today there was a mist hanging in the Tyne Valley and a heavy due covering the ground bringing out the numerous cobwebs. I just wanted to enjoy, what was probably the last of the summer warmth so wandered around and hoped there may be some photographic opportunities. For this I dusted off my Canon 30D which I had to pump up the ISO to initially 3200 (first image) then 1600 (bird images). If you believe what is said in online camera forums, then ‘old’ cameras such as the 30D are not capable of producing decent images over 800 ISO, yet is its at this number and over that I shoot at most of the time in all but landscapes on this camera and the 1Dmk IIn.

Not much on this day to see. Walking around, the woodland areas were still very overgrown though while photographing the birds I could see the smaller plants around me moving and rustling, presumably small rodents of some sort foraging. Out in the open was little better, I had hoped to sight a Kestrel hunting over the fields or a Kite soaring overhead but no joy. Still, it was a lovely warm day so I just made the most of enjoying it.